Watermarble & Glitterbombs

I went shopping across the border on Friday and picked up a few new polishes! I exercised some serious restraint and ended up with 3 new funky fingers shades, 2 Bonita colours, and an INM out the door top coat, which I've seen plenty of raves over. (Kmart had a ton of clearance options but they were all pretty similar to what I already have, or colours I didn't love- so I decided to put them back! I'm so proud of myself!) Upon arrival home I knew I had to get right into them - and what better way to do some water marble practice which I have been itching to do. 

Products Used

Sally Hansen Hi-Ho Silver

Funky Fingers Life's a Beach

Funky Fingers Bezerk Turq

Funky Fingers Sand and Stillettos

Sally Hansen Babe Blue

INM Out the Door

I love the colour palette- a perfect celebration of spring! And I'm happy to see my water marble skills are improving. Not perfect, by far, but these are the first marbles that came out relatively like I actually planned. Can anyone recommend a good tool to use for marbling? 

Hope you enjoy :)

xo Shawna

Turquoise Water Marble turquoise #TGIF challenge

Happy Friday! My go-to monthly nail art challenge has been disbanded, so I decided to create my own as a great way to knock some to-do manis off my list and start exploring new techniques and styles. I've dubbed it the #TGIFnailartchallenge, so you can search the hashtag on IG to see more! It'll still be weekly, on Fridays. Of course if you're playing along it doesn't have to be done on the Friday, so you can jump in whenever! Week one is a technique that has been on my list for quite a while: the turquoise water marble. I used this tutorial. 

Products Used

Rimmel Do Not Disturb

Wet n' Wild Black Creme

L'oreal Because You're Worth It

China Glaze Fast Forward

Cuter Cuticles Cutie Guard

Non-Aerosol Hair spray

A million q-tips!

While this was definitely a "messy-mess" (as I would say to my nephew), boy do I love this one! I found my hairspray was a bit finicky for the technique so I had lots of do overs and had to clean the water quite a bit. I liked that, unlike a traditional water marble, if I wasn't satisfied with the coverage I would just dip my nail back in and catch the tiny little floaty bits to get more on the nail. My Cindy hand actually looks better, I may end up posting a pic on IG so go follow me over there!. 

Have you tried this technique? 

xo Shawna

Holographic Watermarble

ALL THE HOLOS!! I received my halo hues collection nearly a month ago now, but just hadn't had much opportunity with all the Christmas manicures to use them. So, I figured- why not use them all at once?! 

Products Used

Color Club Halo Hues 2013:

Beyond

Cosmic Fate

Miss Bliss

Over the Moon

Eternal Beauty

Kismet

China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat

Cuter Cuticles Cutie Guard

Hopefully photoshop fixed most of the issue, but I ate a snack after doing my nails and proceeded to wreck the tips of all 4 fingers on my swatching hand. I touched it up but it's still visibly messed up- thank goodness for the "healing brush"! I clearly still need practice swirling the marble but it's still a fun effect. 

xo Shawna

christmas eve water marble

So, I am newly obsessed with water marbling after figuring out it's all about the polish. China glaze seems to be great so far, and thus made the base for a christmas coloured mani which I wore to church and the movies on Christmas Eve!

Products Used

China Glaze Snow

China Glaze Be More Pacific

China Glaze Tip your Hat

Seche Vite Top Coat

Dotting Tools from Amazon

I didn't really have an appropriate christmas green, so this ended up being a lighter coloured mani. I added accent nails of a gift wrapped thumb and polka-dotted pinkie.

Water marble is so fun!

Merry Christmas!

xo Shawna

candy cane stripes

I've been wanting to do a candy cane striped mani, and I knew the red creme from the China Glaze holiday 2014 collection would be the perfect pairing with white. I'd also been itching to try watermarbling again after watching the video tutorial I linked the other day, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone!

 Products Used

China Glaze Snow (marbling)

China Glaze Tip You Hat

BK Matt White (stamping)

HK Girl Top Coat

MoYou Festive 06

I am really happy with how the water marble turned out! The tutorial definitely gave great tips. I also used the tape to minimize cleanup this time and it worked like a charm (until I got excited to do the opposite hand and forgot to tape up for that one- oops!)

There will probably be one more post before Christmas! Do you have any exciting Christmas manis planned?

xo Shawna

Watermarble Mani for Nail Art Nov

I've come down with a sinus cold and feel and sound awful, so I took Monday as a sick day from work. Since it was a decidedly lazy day, I chose to finally tackle one of my "to-do" manis which also was the day 16 prompt for nail art november (after briefly considering just skipping a few days that I've missed due to the wedding festivities!)

Products used:

Polish My Life Nude Lace

Ciate Snow Virgin

Essie Mint Candy Apple

Rimmel Do Not Disturb

Born Pretty Store Gemstones (SDPX31 saves 10%!)

HK Girl Top Coat

I love the colour palette so despite the designs lacking interest, I'm pretty happy with my first ever attempt at water marbling. Hopefully one day I will be making awesome flower designs with the technique :)

Have you tried this technique?

xo Shawna